The world of a 2D platform game, such as the Metroid series, is a much simpler place. Generally, this means that there aren’t as many tricks available in an engine with simpler, probably less exploitable physics, but speedrunners will always find a way.

The most basic and the most useful of all Metroid speed tricks is the wall jump, introduced in Super Metroid (http://speeddemosarchive.com/hack/walljump.html). Somersault towards a wall, and jump again in the opposite direction at the moment you make contact. If you have done it correctly, you will be jumping the opposite direction of your first jump a fair distance off the ground. You can repeat the procedure while you’re still in the air, as long as you have walls to scale. With practice and some nifty thumb work, you’ll soon ascend vertical walls in no time at all. The difficulty of this trick varies with the version of Metroid you are playing.

Metroid Zero Mission had its own special trick, the ability to do “infinite bomb jumps” while in the morph ball. No matter the height at which a bomb explodes against you while you’re in a ball, it will always push you upwards the same amount. If you lay a bomb and then lay another bomb just after the first bomb has bounced you into the air, the second explosion will propel you higher than did the first explosion. If you had the foresight to lay a third bomb just after the second bomb boosted you upwards, you will find yourself even higher still, and so on until you hit the roof.

An even faster variation, the so-called double bomb jump, requires very precise timing to lay bombs at the top and bottom of each alternate boost. That probably doesn’t make much sense unless you watch an example (http://speeddemosarchive.com/hack/bombjump.html).

The Metroid games also have a built-in speed hack, the beautifully named shinespark . It’s not needed to complete the games, but is the key to many secret areas and can be the speedrunner’s best friend. To perform a shinespark, you need the Speed Booster powerup.

While merrily boosting along, tap down. Samus will crouch and continue flashing, indicating that you’ve charged the shinespark. You now have a short time to move into position and release it, sending Samus hurtling off like a glowing missile.

If you hit a slope while ’sparking, you will start running at boosted speed again, which allows you to charge another shinespark and start the process again. Using this approach, you can chain together sequences of shinesparks to reach the most inaccessible of secret areas and cover large distances in very little time. See Metroid 2002 (http://www.metroid2002.com/) for useful time-savers in Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission that use the shinespark.

If you’re looking for more information on speedrunning for diverse titles over diverse consoles and the PC, the SDA Other site (http://planetquake.com/sda/other/) announces all the new speedruns. If you want to know how to accomplish new tricks, either watch the runs in question or go to specific FAQ sites, such as Metroid 2002 for the Metroid series.

Poor old Samus Aran seems hampered in her movement in her first 3D sojourn. It takes forever for her to turn around, her running is not up to the speed we expect from the blonde battle-machine, and her jumps are a little labored. It only seems fair that the world’s speedrunners have uncovered ways to return her to her athletic glory.

The L-Lock-spring jump lets you gain some extra distance. Use the R button to look down, lock the view with the L button, run off a platform and jump, then release the lock right away to gain extra distance. To gain even greater horizontal distance but little vertical height, use the dash jump: acquire a lock somewhere convenient, point your analog stick in the direction you wish to hurdle, tap the jump button, then release all keys right away. You should find yourself flying in the direction you pressed.